Getting away with it …

Sometimes it feels like the whole world would have us forget the Palestinians. Israel of course would love to physically remove the Palestinians from ‘their’ world altogether but they are not sure they would get away with it. Our man in Cairo would certainly concur with Israel on that one. Sisi also would like to see the Palestinians gone. The Palestinians are a reminder of a great injustice that we all hate being reminded about because in the dark hour of ethnic cleansing we all looked the other way. But the Palestinians are not going to let anyone of the hook.

Sisi is void of any of the mental faculties through which we keep ourselves in check. Al Jazeera reminded him of the fact and so he jailed the three reporters. The crime of the Palestinians is similar only it is millions of times larger. Sisi would love to step in a help his friend Netanyahu but again, he would not get away with it … It is not repeating the injustice of 1948 that Netanyahu fears but not getting away with it for a second time. It is on this point that Sisi comes to the rescue.

We are told that the present military offensive is about targeting the tunnels. Gaza is subject to a complete closure and the tunnels are the only link with the world. Sisi has destroyed the tunnels along the Egyptian border and Netanyahu is doing the same with tunnels along the Israeli border. This is termed a ‘strategic’ objective. But once all these tunnels have been destroyed, Israel can tighten the closure on Gaza with Egypt helping. The present offensive then is all about tightening the grip on Gaza, making sure the population of around one and a half million can be slowly choked to death. Maybe a few thousand at a time. This slow murder, Netanyahu and Sisi reason, might be possible. They could get away withit. Certainly with the help of the Americans …

There is but one thing standing between Israel and the elimination of its Gaza problem and that is the international community. If ordinary people throughout Europe stand up and build the boycott then we could see a very different outcome. The Palestinians will not go down. Resistance is in their DNA. They know the name of the game for Egypt and they know the historic mission of Zionism inside out. So their position is clear. It is opur position here in Europe that needs to be clarified. We need to lobby Europe and make sure that sanctions are enforced. At the level of ordinary life we need to build the boycott. We need no fancy arms to move this objective. We just need the same determination of our Palestinian brothers and sisters and a sense of what is right and wrong. Make Palestine’s South Africa moment come about …